A Brief Introduction to Aerospace Applications

Abstract

Aerospace is a relatively young industrial field, being just a little over 100 year old. Nonetheless, for its role in promoting innovation and setting new challenges for the development of materials and technologies, it can be regarded as one of the industries that have shaped the twentieth century. The very beginning of the aerospace era can be dated back to the pioneering work of the Wright brothers. However, the dream to fly was already deep-rooted in the mind of mankind, for instance, through the work of Leonardo, who designed the well-known flying machine. In this chapter, the interplay between the development of aircraft structures and the availability of novel materials is discussed. Strictly related to this aspect is the progress in the materials processing techniques, optimized and, sometimes, developed on purpose to comply with specific design criteria. The elevated quality standards achieved in aerospace materials has often suggested and favored the extension of the same production approaches to other technological fields, presented in the last section of this chapter.